presidential race

Oh, the games we play. Candidates for President are working the fundraising circuit with feverish intensity, while doing everything they can to downplay how much money they'll raise -- all so that on April 15th, when the first campaign filings are due, they can awe and astound with the piles of money they've raked in, and get that one step closer to the White House.

Everybody who has thrown their hat into the ring for the 2008 Presidential race is looking for a fundraising edge to vault them ahead of their competitors: Mitt Romney, vying for the Republican nomination, has targeted students as fundraisers, promising them a 10% commission for every dollar over $1,000 they bring in. It's an arrangement that raises some ethical questions.

The Hill's frontpage article today sniffs around the fundraising activities of top Republican presidential contenders and finds them cleaning up among the "glitterati" on the K Street lobbying corridor, who are more than happy to trade a bundle of checks now for a bundle of favors later. I wouldn't call them the glitterati though (this is Washington "Hollywood for Ugly People" DC after all). Maybe "donorati"?

The Republican is looking for a little more disclosure in the realm of campaign finance, particularly in this brave new world of bundling where super-fundraisers give the max donation to a candidate and find, say, a hundred friends willing to do the same, yet don't need to disclose anything beyond their individual gift.

Much has been made of the millions upon millions of dollars that 2008 presidential candidates will have to raise- this article from The New York Times adds insight on where a big chunk of that money will come from: lucrative relationships with hedge fund managers who can not only donate thousands in their own right, but bundle big checks from their friends.